The obesity means such a body condition that adipose tissue (body fat) is systemically overaccumulated and results from an energy intake higher than the energy expenditure over a long period of time. The obesity is accompanied by the limitation in the physical activity and the application of an excess load to various internal organs and results in various associated diseases such as arteriosclerosis, cancers and diabetes mellitus to thus ruin the obese person's health.
Until now, there have been proposed a variety of medicinal-therapeutic methods for preventing obesity, but these methods must solve various difficulties in order to ensure a satisfactory effect. For instance, the drug therapy using hormones or excitometabolics suffers from a problem that the decomposition of body proteins are promoted simultaneously with the decomposition of body fats. Among the hormone, a certain androgenic hormone has been known to show anti-obesity effects through the stimulation of the myotropic action and hence the promotion of the consumption of reserve fats. Examples of such androgenic hormones include dehydroepiandrosterone and 3-keto-.DELTA..uparw.9-19-norsteroid (Japanese Un-examined Patent Publication No. Hei 02-275895). In addition, anorectics and digestive enzyme-inhibitors suffer from a problem of side-effects such as nervous sympton and diarrhea.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an anti-obesity agent free of the foregoing disadvantages.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a medicinal composition effective for the prevention and treatment of obesity.
A still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for preventing obesity and treating patients suffering from obesity.